Urban League Comments On Newest Unemployment Report

NEW YORK - NUL’s State of Urban Jobs site at iamempowered.com gives you everything you need to know about jobs including the monthly employment report with stats for Blacks, Whites and Latinos, the National Urban League’s position on employment and job creation policy, the facts about how investing in job creation is the best strategy for reducing the deficit, as well as resume writing tips and job listings. Click hereto view and stay abreast of the latest developments.

Join Dr. Valerie Rawlston Wilson on Monday, January 10, 2010 at 11:00am for a live web chat about the December 2010 Employment report on IAmEmpowered.com

Highlights of the December 2010 Employment Report:

The economy gained a net 103,000 jobs in December while private employment increased by 113,000. Over the past year, the economy has added 1.1 million jobs, roughly 94,000 jobs per month. The number of unemployed people in December fell to 14.5 million, while the labor force participation rate fell to 64.3%, representing 260,000 people who have stopped looking for work.

The unemployment rate fell to 9.4% in December after November's rise to 9.8%. All major worker groups saw some modest declines in their rates of unemployment -- black unemployment rate was 15.8% (from 16%); unemployment rate for black men was 16.5% (from 16.7%); for black women 13.2% (from 13.1%); whites 8.5% (from 8.9%); and Latinos 13.0% (from 13.2%). Rates of teen unemployment were 22.5% for whites (from 20.9%), 44.2% for African-Americans (from 46.3%) and 32.2% for Latinos (from 30%). The rate of underemployment (including the unemployed, marginally attached and those working part-time for economic reasons) was 16.7%.

The ranks of long-term unemployed (jobless for 27 weeks or more) increased from November to December – now at 6.3 million or 44.3% of all unemployed (from 42.2%)

Eighty percent of the job growth over the month of December came from only two industries -- health care (+35,700), and Leisure and hospitality (+47,000). Retail trade added 12,000 jobs (mostly through auto dealers) and temporary help services continued to trend up (+16,000), but at a slower pace than previous months. Local government (-20,000) and construction (-16,000) sectors experienced the most, though still modest, losses.